1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to performing printhead maintenance in an imaging apparatus, and more particularly, to a printhead wiper cleaning mechanism for an imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An imaging apparatus, such as an ink jet printer, includes a maintenance station that performs maintenance operations to preserve the life of the associated printhead. For example, an ink jet printer includes an ink jet printhead having a plurality of ink jetting nozzles formed in a nozzle plate. The ink jet printhead may be attached, for example, to a printhead cartridge having an integral ink reservoir.
Such a maintenance station for an ink jet printer includes a printhead wiper and a printhead capping mechanism. The printhead wiper is typically an elongated rubber device having a sharp wiping edge that is used for wiping residual ink from the nozzles of the ink jet printhead nozzle plate. The capping mechanism is used to cap the ink jet printhead for storage. The wiping and capping operations prevent the nozzles from becoming blocked with contaminants, such as dried ink and accumulated paper dust, thereby extending the life of the ink jet printhead.
Some ink jet printers accumulate a considerable amount of excess ink on the nozzle plate, particularly when printing at a high duty cycle. During printhead wiping maintenance, the printhead wiper is positioned to engage the excess ink on the nozzle plate, with most of the removed waste ink staying on the printhead wiper following the wiping operation. However, if the printhead wiper cannot hold all of the removed waste ink, then some of the waste ink may be deposited onto the side of the printhead. These occurrences can cause degradation in the wiping performance of the printhead wiper, since the waste ink remaining on the printhead wiper may be reapplied to the nozzle plate, or catapulted by the printhead wiper onto the sheet of print media when the printhead disengages from the printhead wiper. Also, some of the waste ink on the side of the printhead may fall onto the sheet of print media during a printjob.
In addition, some imaging apparatus include a printhead carrier having mounted thereto a semi-permanent printhead containing multiple nozzle plates. In such a configuration, there is not any excess space for the waste ink to be wiped onto a side surface, as may be the case for a printhead cartridge having a single printhead nozzle plate.
What is needed in the art is a printhead wiper cleaning mechanism for an imaging apparatus.